The purpose of this study was to explore instructional designs for promoting inquiry practices in secondary school textbooks. Three criteria were employed to select the textbooks: (1) approved by the Ministry of Education in Singapore and the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia, (2) used in secondary schools, and (3) included content…

This article introduces a flexible and easy-to-implement open-ended scientific inquiry activity called the Paper Towels Challenge. After experimentally determining which of three unbranded paper towels is the most absorbent, students discuss their results and methods. The teacher facilitates the discussion of epistemological issues. This activity…

Textbooks have several important functions in science education. By interviewing six teachers, this study shows how secondary school science teachers perceive and use textbooks as resources, especially in inquiry teaching. The results show that textbooks aid inquiry teaching by offering teachers easily accessible suggestions for practical and…

Integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach has been implemented all around the world. STEM approach highlights the integration of different STEM disciplines, the use of daily-life problems, and engineering design process, which provides a context for students to learn knowledge of STEM disciplines and apply the…

A differentiated science activity was created for gifted students. The focus is on Sustainable Development Goal 15 (SDG-15) for life on land, enhancing engagement, self-regulated learning skills, and scientific creativity in gifted students. The activity spanned eight lesson hours, with tasks encouraging observation, inquiry, and creative…

Formal and informal education have transitioned to distance learning in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to develop an activity for science lessons during distance education to increase students' knowledge of and awareness about environmental problems. The study was conducted with 7th grade students enrolled in a…

Young children's self-identification and self-identity are essentially a set of conscious and unconscious beliefs built from experiences. Students' self-image, and their understanding of society, can change when they research how women contributed to our nation and to our daily lives. Such lessons can render these historical figures accessible and…

This article provides guidelines for student investigation that address teaching and learning objectives for both the social studies and language arts. Building on historical inquiry methods, the authors advocate for Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) as a vehicle for this learning. Because the curricula in secondary English/language arts and…

In this study, a new model termed as "Flexible Inquiry Based Science Teaching", which is developed using the framework of the inquiry approach is proposed. Science teachers (n=2) who participated in the study were instructed on the inquiry approach and their in-class activity applications were examined. The "electricity module"…

For six semesters, activities have been incorporated into first year general chemistry courses in an effort to build student conceptual chemistry knowledge. The activities follow a learning cycle pedagogy (similar to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning or POGIL activities) and consist of guiding questions involving animations, models,…

Successfully carrying out a secondary school physics inquiry requires a considerable amount of procedural and content knowledge. It further requires knowledge of how and why maintaining scientific standards produces the best available answer to the given research question. To this purpose, a series of five inquiry activities was developed and…

We have developed and verified laboratory work as guided inquiry for upper secondary level students, focusing on conceptual understanding of the physical principle that forms the basis of temperature measurement, and on improvement of selected skills. Conceptual pre-test questions initiate the students' interest and help identify input…

Beyond cognitive outcomes, inquiry instruction can have positive general and differentiated affective outcomes. In this exploratory study, teacher-nominated high- to low-average achievers in Grades 5 through 9 (N = 272, mean age 11.7 years), in classrooms exhibiting rare, occasional, and frequent inquiry qualities, were assessed on…

Teaching social studies using literature requires the teacher to know social studies content and determine the accuracy of the material. Is a narrative authentic? In other words, does it accurately depict the time and place in which a story is set? Are there omissions, stereotypes, or simplifications that could distort the reader's…

Active learning approaches have shown to improve student learning outcomes and improve the experience of students in the classroom. This article compares a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning style approach to a more traditional teaching method in an undergraduate research methods course. Moving from a more traditional learning environment to…